Scott Peyton joined the Anglicans after the crime against his son. Then the Catholic church officially expelled him

Scott Peyton joined the Anglicans after the crime against his son. Then the Catholic church officially expelled him

The Roman Catholic church has upheld the excommunication of a Louisiana deacon who resigned from the clergy after a priest molested his son.

Scott Peyton learned of the decision by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) – the Vatican entity in charge of Catholic clerical discipline – on Friday in a meeting with the bishop of the diocese of Lafayette, J Douglas Deshotel. The DDF cited technical grounds in rejecting Peyton’s appeal, saying he had joined an Anglican congregation, “published [that] fact … on social media” and therefore refused to submit to the Catholic pope, who since May 2025 has been Leo XIV.

  • mcv@lemmy.zip
    7·
    3 days ago

    What I wantï to know is: was the perpetrator at least excommunicated too?

    Meanwhile, Goldstein’s statement said that Deshotel on Friday admitted that the abusive clergyman who preyed on Peyton’s son – the imprisoned Michael Guidry – remained in the Catholic priesthood.

    I guess not. At least he’s in prison; that’s an important improvement over such cases in the past. But why let him continue to be a priest, while excommunicating the victim?

    There is still a lot wrong in US Catholicism. (The decision seems to be local, not from Rome. Perhaps Leo should excommunicate the people who made this decision.)